Now you can live with a friendly hologram character

by Danny Kichi on Tue, Jan 19, 2016

00

No more lonely loving. A Japanese startup has announced the development of Gatebox, the world's first "Hologram Communication Robot," which will be able to wake you up in the morning, welcome you home, and even turn your TV on for you. And once your hologram gets to know you and your behaviors, communication with it will get a lot more personal.

Japanese startup vinclu Inc. has some pretty futuristic plans going on with Gatebox and Azuma Hikari, a hologram robot that can connect with any IoT (Internet of Things) devices in your home. If you're connected, you can tell Azuma to start your coffee, turn on your TV, or even wake you up from a nap. As great as all this sounds, it's still in concept mode, but vinclu is planning on crowdfunding and having Gatebox available towards the end of 2016.

At this point, this hologram robot can only do a few specific things, but remember, this is only the beginning. When you watch the video below, you can see Azuma say, "Welcome home. You must have had a long day at work today." The guy goes, "I want to watch TV," and Azuma, in her cute, irresistible for otaku robot voice, answers with, "I'm going turn the TV on." Then the guy starts hallucinating, but that's another story. She then wakes him up in the morning, telling him how beautiful it is outside. "You're still sleepy? Why don't you go wash your face?" When the lonely man leaves, she even flirts with him. "You can can home early again tonight if you want . . . I'm just kidding."

It won't be too far away when people can have their favorite anime characters or whoever they want as holograms living in their homes, communicating with them as though they were actually there. It will be more intelligent than Azuma, more aware of its surroundings, and even flirtier. And one day, some dude is going to fall in love with it.